CAPITOL HILL/ MONROVIA LIBERIA
PRESS RELEASE
Scholarships on Sale At Foreign Ministry
Feb 19/ 11: In the past, employees of the Ministry have benefited immensely from scholarship opportunities to studies abroad both on a long and short terms basis, but the days are now over, as scholarships are now being awarded to friends, family members, girl-friends and most often awarded to people who have no expertise or experience in the field of study.
Occasionally, these scholarships are sold out to people outside the Ministry by the Bureau of African and Asian Affairs. Presently, there is no merit system in the awarding of scholarships in the Ministry, as only is the one who make the selection of who benefit.
Appointment of Unqualified Foreign Service Officers
One area of major concern is the persistent appointment of incompetent, inexperience and inept Foreign Service Officers into the field despite the present of qualified, experienced, educated, professionals and trained Foreign Service officers and graduates of the FSI are present at the Central Office doing nothing.
Most disappointing is the posting of children and ill-responsible people to strategic missions with no or little knowledge in diplomacy service, thus leaving out qualified and experienced Foreign Service graduates well schooled in diplomacy and those recalled from the field.
Also, there is on-going of secret appointment Foreign Service officers at the Ministry who are on the list of being sent into the field, with no reference to record ones at the Ministry despite of long service to their country.
It has also been noted that those sent into the field forced their way through by beating the system to purchase their appointment, by bribing top officials of the Ministry or by favoritism on the part of some high up at the Ministry.
The situation makes one to wonder why should the Ministry preferred to send inexperience ones in the field when well trained diplomats and graduates of the FSI have expressed their readiness to return to service.
Those requesting for those documents are usually and intentionally delayed work on documents until they are bribed to speed-up the process, as a result, those who do not comply find it very difficult in recent time to get their documents process on time and deliver.
Prostitutions at Foreign Ministry
Some females at the Foreign Ministry have been subjected to sexual exploitation and harassment by some senior officials of the Ministry who have taken advantage of their positions to sexually exploit some female staff members.
Among the perpetrators of this ugly practice include Deputy Minister Sylvester Grigsby who Offices on the 3rd Floor and Chief of Protocol Eddie Dunnh who rank equivalent to Deputy Minister, with offices on the 4th Floor, among others.
For Deputy Minister Grigsby, he has gone so bad that he approaches every good-looking and nice lady at the Ministry, ranging from the Basement to 4th Floor of the Ministry.
He is noted for constantly approaching women and persistently on a phone with ladies. Some of his casualties include a black looking light-skin, in shape big-legs lady identified as Antoinette Munnahe Wollor assigned on the 4th Floor and another bright female assigned on the third floor, among several ladies.
This lady in recent time has been a regular visitor at the Deputy Minister office and sometime seems during night hour in the Deputy Minister’s white vehicle driving towards unknown destination, perhaps on a honeymoon.
Shealso maintains a strong intimate relationship with her boss , the chief of protocol who is also at the center of subjecting his subordinates’ female staffers to sex before awarding them with benefits. This same lady also had relationship with a former deputy minister who resiged his post and a former comptroller who was dismissed for stealing and also a former assistant minister who has been replaced from the ministry. Also there are several other females at the Ministry who are sleeping with their bosses.
Other officials of the Ministry, ranging from Assistant Ministers to Directors are also engaged into similar repugnant act by constantly subjecting their staff members to sexual exploitation and harassment, with those who resisted their requests are sidelined while those who comply are giving special treatment and recommended for high allowances and other benefits, to the determine of other shown in the disparity of monthly allowances and distribution of gas slips.
In recent time, passport applicants and visitors have complaint of continuously coming contact with officials of the Ministry who are in the habit of demanding that they sleep with the applicants before assisting them to quickly obtain their passports.
Done Appoint Angela Cassell Bush
On a serious note, we have received unconfirmed report that plans are underway for the appointment of Madam Angela Cassell Bush as the new Inspector-General of the Foreign Service. If the report is to go by, we are strongly warning against the appointment of Madam Bush, as the new Inspector-General of the Foreign time she is appointed to the position which requires confirmation. She does not the moral rectitude and technical expertise to run that dedicated office.
She is inexperience, unrepresentable, unprofessional and lack the basic diplomatic training for the post, and we again reiterates that she leave the Ministry. This record for lobbying for the retirement of the former Inspector-General and several Ambassadors-At-Large, and others who were recorded from the Foreign Service and several persons dismissed from the Ministry and sent to the Ministry of
Justice.
Currently, there is an exodus of employees from the Inspector-General Office to anther Bureaus following reports that she is about to be appointed to the office. She is the one indirectly who run the financial bureau at the Ministry and decides who receive monthly allowance and gas slips, as well as who get on the payroll, while the Deputy Minister for Administration is being remotely run by ghosts of the former Foreign Minister.
Theses ghosts are still visible at the Ministry and directing things to the disappointment of the general workers. Let it be categorically states that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs needs deliverance from the ugly activities on-going at the Ministry if the new Administration is to success in its drive to regain the Ministry lost status and restore its credibility.
The situation of administrative malpractice has dramatically becomes and practice of the day, with those employed in recent time are either family members, close associate or friends of the Deputy Minister for Finance and the Assistant Minister for Administration as well as other officials of the Ministry. Recently, new batch of employees have been placed on the payroll while some of those who been working at the Ministry for years and months fate are left in the balance, with no news about their employment.
Greed For Foreign Trips
Another issue of major concern is the attitudes of one Assistant Minister and Deputy Minister with offices on the Ground Floor and 3rd Floor and the Chief of Protocol to be the only ones to attend all foreign trips without surprising their subordinates to attend of the trips. It is so unacceptable that they have become unpopular in the eyes of their immediate deputies and some staff members, who usually gossip about them.
They are hardly seemed in their respective office for a month without traveling, just for allowances and other benefits. Both of them were at the recent AU Summit in Addis Ababa , and they about to travel again.
Corruption
Another negating happening at the Ministry is the failures of the authority to combat corruption at the Ministry especially at the Bureaus of Achieves, Legal, Protocol and Passports, where staff members at these bureaus usually demand illegal money before working on importance documents such as Articles of Incorporation, Verbal Notes, Duplication of Legal Instruments and documents and processing of passports to the detriment of the applicants.
Daily Bribery
Those assigned at the Bureau of Legal Affairs usual over charged applicants more than the stipulated fees of US$20.00 for the processing of Article of Incorporation, with some applicants paying between US$50.oo to US$200.00, while some staffers at the Bureau of Protocol are in the habit of requesting money from government officials travelling abroad before preparing their Verbal Note and at the same time delivering same to a diplomatic missions in Monrovia responsible to issue visas.
This Bureau is performing below standard due to lack of competent and qualified persons. The staff are the bureau are noted for blundering on importance as was the case of ceremony marking the President’s Annual to the National legislature and the party.
During the party they were concern loading their hand bags with food instead of catering to the guests most of whom had no seats. When one of the protocol officers was threatened by a senior official with dismissal over her unwanted attitude displayed to towards guests, she said that she will only be dismiss accept her boss have not see her nakedness.
Also, the Bureau is in the habit of demanding officials of government to pay extra money under the pretend of sending the verbal note out of the country through couriers. This embarrassing practices at the Protocol Bureau has become and money making adventure.
Last week Tuesday, one official of government was seemed in the corridor of the Ministry vesting his frustration over the preparation of delay of his verbal note. The man alleged that he was asked to speedily facility the process but refused to comply to the illegal act and threatened to expose those involved.
Another bureau which employees considered as a fast money making area is the Bureau of Passports and Visas where applicants are over-charged against the approved US$23.00 to process a passport.
Accordingly, those who briber by paying more than the approved fees passports are treated with urgency and received the same day while those who refused to bribe and only paid the approved fees are taken days or weeks to obtain their traveling book. The bureau is usually overcrowded with employees of the Ministry who are hunting for passport’s applicants to illegally over-charge them to process their passports.
Lack of Monthly Benefits
The Ministry is again experiencing difficult to give its work forces their needed monthly benefits such as allowances and gas slips as well as transportation to commute them to job and home. Since this year we are yet to get our January Allowances and gas slips while the buses are grounded due to lack of fuel and gasoline.
As a result, we are force to pay our way to work on a daily basic while other ministries received their needed benefits and allowance on time for the month. On an important note, the Deputy Minister for Administration has disappoints us and unable to run his office. The Ministry is unable to settle its debts therefore no vendors want to do busy with the administration.
Greed For Foreign Trips
Another issue of major concern is the attitudes of one Assistant Minister and Deputy Minister with offices on the Ground Floor and 3rd Floor and the Chief of Protocol to be the only ones to attend all foreign trips without surprising their subordinates to attend of the trips. It is so unacceptable that they have become unpopular in the eyes of their immediate deputies and some staff members, who usually gossip about them.
They are hardly seemed in their respective office for a month without traveling, just for allowances and other benefits. Both of them were at the recent AU Summit in Addis Ababa , and they about to travel again.
Conflict of Interest
The Chief of Protocol has engaged into serious conflict of interest by hijacking all government important delegation trips abroad and awarding the purchasing of flights tickets to his Airline office, run by his wife, contrary to government policy. The recent government delegation visit to the AU summit flight tickets were purchased from his airline office on Broad Street , while other airlines agencies which are paying taxes to government benefit no support from the government. His airlines office is usually over-charged government for
flights tickets.
Practice of Nepotism
The practice of nepotism, favoritism and tribalism are growing issues that need to be dealt with decisively by the new Foreign Minister, if his Administration is to be successful in bring the Ministry to its pre war status and regaining its lost image as the first Ministry in the country. Another issue which has taken a center stage for the past three months is the issue of corruption which shows that some employees with low rank are rewarded with high allowance and more gas slips more than others like directors and those with BSC and Masters’ Degrees in various disciplines of studies.
Even those who were sent abroad to undergo studies have returned with Master Degree but there has been no promotion and that their monthly allowance for the month of January is US$125.00, while they still receive civil servant salary while those assigned in Madam Angela Cassell Bush office without degree receive a monthly allowance of US$200.00 to US$350.00, while some staff members get between USD20 to 50.
For instance, all staff members at office of the Deputy Minister for Finance receive monthly gas slips and better allowance, while some secretaries favored also receive monthly allowance and gas slips, with nothing for other secretaries assigned in other bureaus and departments. This ugly act was exposed during the recent distributions of gas slips. We are calling for an audit into the distributions of gas slips and both US and Liberian dollars’ payrolls.
We will not rest in our advocacy until ills and ugly practices at the Ministry are removed. We called on the new Minister to be vigilant in combating societal ills at the Ministry and protect the interests of the general staff members.
We commend our new Minister for little improvement at the Ministry but we propose a regular monthly meeting to enable employees express their feeling of unwholesome activities at the Ministry. We believe that constant meeting will help resolve some of the ills eating up the Ministry and that the plights of majority of us will be address.
Signed Willie Flomo
Interim Chairman/ MOFA Concerned Workers Association
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